Hey Little Dude, Seriously?

I feel like this is what Kona is thinking every time Nathaniel talks to her, "Little Dude, Seriously?"  She is thinking that because she is still wondering why Nathaniel calls her 'kaka'... it's true.  No matter how many times we say 'Kona' Nate still says 'Kaka' it is the strangest thing.  I guess she looks like a kaka to him.  I hear it so much that every once in awhile I hear myself saying it.  'Do you want to give kaka a cookie?' Whoops... I mean Kona.  He does pretty well when you tell him how to say other things, but for some reason he just chooses kaka.  Cracks me up.  It's not the prettiest of nicknames either ;)  

On a side note, my pretty girl Kona had her teeth cleaned and some mast cells (cancer bumps) removed last Monday.  She was so out of when she got home :(  but she is doing fine now.  Kevin was out of town and it was so hard trying to cuddle her and play with Nate.  Needless to say I was tired at the end of the night.  

Sippy Cup Snagger

10, maybe 20, maybe even 30.  That is the number of sippy cup valves Mocha has stolen and chewed since Nate started using sippy cups.  He can't resist the soft plasticy goodness of those suckers.  Granted I leave them out on the counter where he can easily grab them.  You'd think I would have learned by now!  Seriously!  When I wash them I set them on the dish mat, which is no challenge for Mocha.  The sippy cup valve is definitely the most eaten Nate item in the house.  What is more amazing is that the sippy cup valve is the one thing Nathaniel doesn't actually give to Mocha to chew.  

Those two together are trouble.  It is apparently hilarious to put a plastic animal in Mocha's face then run off real fast, have him chase you, give him the animal and then watch him chew a leg off.  Replace plastic animal with ball, stuffed animal, crayon... anything Mocha finds interesting and you have one of Nate's favorite parts of the day.  Poor dog gets confused since Nate eggs him on while I am yelling at everyone to stop the madness :) I have to admit the excited shriek Nate makes as Mocha is playing with him is kind of addicting to hear.  Granted I am pretty sure Mocha doesn't know he is playing so much as getting something fun to chew.  As I reread this I'm starting to think things at my house are resembling more of a circus than a well run machine... huh... time for some self reflection.  I'm not sure the game of *keep away* Mocha and Nate play is preparing him for preschool ;) 

Kona Is Pulling a Mako

When Mako got a little older he would groan/moan like Barry White when you'd pet him and love on him (At least that is what my mom used to say and it seemed pretty accurate)  It was his love groans I guess or at least that is what I like to call them.  Apparently, as weimaraners get older they all do this because Kona has now become Barry White too.  When she is feeling especially lovey and you pet her she will groan. I just love when she does this because it reminds me of Mako.  I treasure anything that reminds me of Mako.  

Nathaniel will be in bed, the dogs have usually eaten and been walked, Kona is starting to get sleepy and this is when Barry White shows up.  I just keep petting her and squeezing her so I can hear the love groans.  It is my nightly moment of zen.  I just love my baby girl dog, I can only assume Mako taught her this - Thanks Mako!

My friends

Ok, so Nathaniel doesn't really have many friends yet. Sad? I know! I'm working on it. It's possible he inherited his parents social skills. He does however have two friends that make him laugh. Mocha and Kaka. Yep, Kona is Kaka. Which is actually better than what he was calling her, which was Mocha. Yep, both were Mocha. Or something that sounded like Mocha. But, it is a huge step that Kona now has her own identity :) Kaka the weimaraner. This is a fairly new development. I heard him saying 'Bye Bye Mocha, Bye Bye Kaka' when we were leaving. He now says it all the time.

 

I call them his friends because friends make you laugh, right? Nathaniel loves when Mocha chases him around trying to get whatever he is holding. It cracks him up (not me so much since it is usually something Mocha shouldn't have), but it is fun to watch those two. He also likes to watch Kona out of the window rolling around in the grass. He yells 'Again' to her when she stops. She doesn't always listen. Apparently rolling around in the grass is hilarious. Also, when Mocha runs full speed in the backyard Nate tries to keep up, laughing as he runs after him. While he is laughing I'm cringing that he is going to get ran over. He hasn't yet, keep your fingers crossed.

 

Now it isn't always fun and games. Nathaniel hasn't quite mastered being gentle. Quite often he pets the dogs more like hits. We are working on that - I tell him he needs to be nice to his friends.

How do you watch tv?

 

 

If you don't have the new weimaraner pillow you may want to run out and get one.  Nathaniel swears that it is relaxing.

 

Nose Kisses

What the heck are nose kisses? I believe most people know them as Eskimo kisses. I have been calling them nose kisses. I did it once, just out of the blue, and Nathaniel thought it was pretty funny. I did it a couple of more times and he just caught on and likes to do it :)

 

Now, you are probably thinking... big deal. Kids do a million cute little things like nose kisses. Well, I'm here to say it stepped up a level of cuteness so I had to blog about it.

 

Usually in the morning we all head to my room so I can shower and get ready. When I say 'we all' I mean me, Kona, Mocha and Nathaniel. Nathaniel kind of mosies around while I do my thing. The dogs usually jump on the bed and stay out of the path of Nate. It didn't take them long to learn that if they didn't want to be laid on, poked at or have stuff put on them they better go to higher ground. Well, when they lay on the bed they tend to keep their heads towards the edge of the bed (not sure why) but it usually happens that way.

 

So do you get the scene? 2 dogs on the bed, one little boy goofing around and me getting ready as I watch and make sure nothing dangerous is happening. I was pleasantly surprised to look over today to see Nathaniel giving Mocha Nose kisses. He would rub his nose to Mochas a few times and than look over at me. He did it a couple of times. Then he moved over to Kona. I thought to myself this should be interesting. I figured Kona would snub him right away and move, but Kona enjoyed the nose kisses too.

 

This is one of those things that catches you off guard. It was so innocent and pure. No one told him to do it, he didn't see anyone else do it. This little boy just thought 'hey I am going to nose kiss the dogs.'

What a Good Dog

One of the craziest questions I'd get while pregnant was 'Are you keeping your dogs?'... I'll never understand that question. Why wouldn't I keep my dogs? Why does having a kid mean you can't have animals. Animals are actually great for kids (unless they are vicious) When I adopted my dogs, I adopted them thinking about 10-15 years down the road. If we had kids or moved or a lot of other things I was committed to them. I was committed to still making them a big part of the family no matter what. Yes, it takes extra planning to make sure they get walked, etc., but it is worth it. I enjoy their company and really can't imagine not having them around.

 

And here is a little example of why 'I kept my dogs even though we have a kid' Mocha is such a good kid dog!

What's Wrong with this Picture?

Do you see what is wrong with this picture?  Not that it is actually wrong, it is funny :)

Here You Go

 

Nathaniel has a new thing he does A LOT. He hands you whatever he is holding 'Here you go'. If he is playing with his new egg set he will hand you one. If he is playing with any of his toys he will hand you one. He will hand you a book to read and then grab one for himself. If he is eating he wants to give you a taste of his squished up piece of fruit, bread or whatever. I've noticed he tends to give you the one he doesn't want. If he hands you one he wants he actually will take it back. The dogs love this new behavior since he now holds out food to them. It is impossible to keep the dogs away while he eats now. I mean they are dogs. If someone is going to hand out food you are going to be there for the taking. Nate hands Mocha his dog toy to chew on even. The problem with this is that he kind of shoves it in his face. Luckily Mocha just moves over a bit. Besides not understanding *gentle* with the dogs, Nate hasn't quite learned distance yet. He will try to hand me something from across the room - when I don't grab it he kind of looks disappointed.  He always looks quite pleased with himself after you take his gift ;) 


Nate Note: Nathaniel was standing by the coffee table and Mocha kept walking right by him ... over and over again... Mocha had a toy in his mouth and wanted to play I guess. What was cute though was that Nathaniel would laugh out loud every time Mocha rubbed up against him as he walked by. It was a tight squeeze and he just thought it was so funny. The more Nate laughed the more Mocha would walk by him.

 

Here are some FALL pictures

 

A first glimpse at his Halloween costume

He looks like he was trying to be scary like the ghost :)

    

Who Can Sit? I Can Sit!

For about a week now the little guy will sit up from a crawl. See video below. He is so much more mobile now. One of his favorite things to do is crawl to the dog's water dish and stick his hands in the water and play with it. Not exactly my favorite thing for him to do since he sticks his fingers in his mouth to taste the water. Needless to say, I change that water out quite a bit (which happens anyway because Kona won't drink unfresh water) and redirect the curious boy to different areas several times a day. He still poses while he crawls too.   

Looks like Nathaniel will have to share his pool... or is it the
other way around and Mocha will have to share his pool.
I'm pretty sure Kona is looking at him like he is crazy.

Mocha, "It is sooooooo Hot - Thanks for the pool"

Diaper Dog

Ok, so we all know that Mocha can be somewhat of a hooligan. It is his hooliganness that actually makes him endearing. Don't get me wrong, there are some days when I walk in to a room and see shredded fluff everywhere I am so mad... but there are other days when I walk in to that same mess and he looks at me like, 'What - did I do something wrong?' and I can't help but chuckle a little. He is especially addicted to shredding paper or paper like things. You can't leave a receipt or letter just sitting around all willy nilly or it will be stolen and shredded into a million tiny pieces. I am not sure how many bills we have sent in with the corners missing, we will catch him before the whole thing is destroyed. (yep we don't do all our bills on line yet, most, but not all. After moving 40 times a year one tends to keep things simple).

Anyway, back to my favorite paper shredder. I think he just likes to hear things make a ripping noise. Anything that can be ripped has a high risk factor if you leave it out. Moving has always been really fun for Mocha because the paper they use to pack up your stuff is like Disneyland. It is everywhere and there is so much of it crumpled like a ball just waiting to be stolen.

Well, he has now discovered how FUN it is to steal diapers and shred them into a million pieces. Not dirty diapers, clean ones. He does it so quiet too. I won't notice he is gone and then all of a sudden my heart skips a beat and I think to myself 'DIAPERS'... and yep... there he is with 3 diapers shredded. There is diaper fluff and granules everywhere. The worst part is for some reason he likes to actually eat the diaper. Most of the time he just shreds stuff and leaves a mess, with diapers he eats most of the evidence. But, as you may have guessed that evidence shows back up in the back yard :) Now the diapers are pretty much kept in a high place where he can't reach them.

Diapers are not the first baby thing to be destroyed. He is racking up quite the list. I actually thought about keeping a Mocha Destruction Tally on the home page of the blog. It would go something like this

Burp clothes - ~3

Blankets - ~ 2

Diapers - ~ ?

PJs - ~1

Pacifiers - ~ 2

Bottles - ~1

Toys - ~ a surprising 0 (as of now)

If there is a positive side to this, it is that he keeps you on your toes. You aren't leaving baby stuff everywhere since you can't or it will be stolen. We have several burp cloths with a hole right in the middle where he chewed. It is funny... and not funny at the same time. He does steal Nathaniel's toys right out of his hands when he is playing. He is super gentle and takes it super slow. It is actually quite impressive how gentle he is, but he is in fact stealing Nate's toy. We discipline him anytime he is around Nate in a way where he could step on him just because he is so much bigger, but we do laugh since it is just sooooooo MOCHA (he does this with Kona too). Kevin and I tease about how many times little Nate is going to be saying....'Mmmmoommm Mocha took my toy again'... It makes it worth it though when I'm holding Nate and Nate is kicking Mocha repeatedly (not hard just little baby taps) when Mocha sits by me and Mocha doesn't even flinch and just lays there like a good dog. He will be a great kid dog so in the grand scheme of things that is what is important - a few chewed things becomes less of a big deal.

gotta run I think Mocha just snuck into Nate's room looking for some fun ;)

Kona a.k.a. Houdini

It has been awhile since I updated everyone on the status of how the dogs are doing around Nathaniel. The dogs are doing GREAT. As a matter of fact we are all getting used to sleeping in the same room again. 4 of us in the bed and little Nathaniel in his pack n play. For awhile I had Nathaniel sleeping in a little bassinet on the bed. It was easier for me with the c section stuff and he liked the vibration and the hammocky feeling so he slept better. Also, I couldn't chance the dogs jumping or sleeping on my belly after the surgery so it was just easier if the dogs slept somewhere else. To keep the dogs from whining too much Kevin slept with them in another room. Sleeping with us has been their routine for years and years so I expected them to whine since they are creatures of habit. Kevin was getting more sleep this way anyway for work since I was getting up several times for Nate.

Well, Nate is now sleeping only in his pack n play and I feel almost healed so our sleep routine is back to normal. Granted I shoosh the dogs a bit more than I used to when Nate is sleeping. They really could care less when I get up to take care of him. I'm not sure they even really wake up anymore. I can even feed Nate right next to them and they don't even move they just sleep.

This isn't to say Mocha doesn't like to super sniff Nate on occasion (especially when he poops) and I have to constantly dog proof the room. Mocha finds every abandoned binky or burp rag or sock. Kona mostly just likes to lick Nate's feet and be near us. Overall, our little family is blending nicely.

There is one thing Kona has learned that I think is quite smart. Weimaraners are known for their escape skills. Usually if you enclose a weimaraner it will find a way out or at least try very very hard to get out. Well, in a past post I mentioned we have a baby gate in the doorway of the master bedroom. This comes in handy when Nate is napping or I just want to keep the dogs out during the day for some reason. I tend not to latch the gate since you have to press down etc to get out and it is just easier to swing the door especially if I'm holding Nate. The door swings out from the room so usually when the dogs try to get in they end up latching the door so no worries, right? Well, my Houdini Kona has figured out how to open the door if it isn't latched. She nudges it slightly with her nose and gets it to open a little (remember the door opens out so this is pretty smart for her) then she nudges it some more and gets her head in there. She then bumps it open with her head and slithers in. The first time she did this I wasn't even paying attention, but all of a sudden I was like 'WHAT, how are you in here' then I watched the next time. She is sneaky. She only comes in if I'm in there. It is so funny. She just wants to be by us.

See how Mocha (yep Mocha is there he is a lil hard to see) and Kona just sleep. 
Nate is playing on his jungle mat and they could care less.

**I thought I would start something called 'Nate Note's' - this will be little memories or notes (Natisms) that I don't want to forget. **

Nate Note: We can tell he is really sleeping if he assumes a certain position. He lays with his head facing left, his arms stretched out on both sides of his head and his legs bent at the knees, but flat against the bed. If you touch your hands to your head and touch the bottoms of your feet together that is pretty much the position. He pretty much sleeps like this all night no matter when you check on him. BUT, only if he is in a deep sleep, which is still very rare during the day.

Missing My Dogs

Look at these guys. I think they are tired from having a baby in the house too :)

Ok so I haven't talked about the dogs and Nate yet. I figure I better start from the beginning. Remember we came home from the hospital late on Monday Oct 3rd. We had all of these plans on how to introduce the dogs to Nate, but all of that was useless once I had a c section. The c section really limited how I could interact with the dogs let alone with a baby. The dogs had not seen me for 4 days. 4 days is a lifetime to our super needy dependant spoiled dogs. It is our fault they are so needy so I can't blame them - it is us who spoil them - I LOVE spoiling them.

That being said, just for me to get in the house and see the dogs I had to sit at the dining room table and put chairs all around me so that neither dog could jump on me. They were just so wired that I couldn't take any chances with the c section. Poor Mocha had been in his crate for basically 4 days straight so you can imagine how much energy that poor guy had by himself. Needless to say they didn't even notice that Nate was sitting in his car seat on the dining room table because they were so excited to see me. After they settled a bit I moved to my bed and we put Nate in the pack n play. It was at this point Mocha noticed the little guy. He immediately got even more hyper, which made Kona hyper so we had to call it quits for the night. You can't properly introduce dogs to a baby in that state of mind.

We immediately decided they were going to doggie daycare the next day so that we could strategize what to do. It was already overwhelming to be at home with a new baby and also be feeling pretty crappy because of the surgery.

We decided that we were going to take it slow with the dogs. They aren't showing any aggression it was just that they were hyper. I couldn't train the dogs properly in the state I was in (I still can't really). Until I am physically capable we have pretty much separated the dogs from Nate. Kevin does training with the dogs when he is home. He carries Nate around and lets the dogs get used to his sounds and cries and smells. We give them all kinds of treats when they sit even when they'd rather be bugging Nate. We put a gate on the master bedroom door and that works perfect. Our master is downstairs so that is where me and Nathaniel spend 95% of our time right now. I rest and recover and he rests and feeds :) The dogs can look in at me and Baby Nate and get used to things. They whine on occasion, but not too bad.

I should back up and give Kona some credit. She is already integrated with the lil guy. She comes in the master and sits at the end of the bed. She sniffs him and his stuff but really is pretty bored with him already. We keep her out most of the time just because of Mocha. We don't want her to get overprotective of Nate without Mocha. We figure they need to be equal. Mocha has a little bit of training still. Remember he isn't aggressive or anything he just gets hyper and really interested. He already loses interest pretty quickly so we think here soon things will be old hat. It will really help once I can feel comfortable carrying Nate and being around the dogs at the same time.

So while the whole dog thing wasn't as easy peasy as planned it is going better and better. I sure miss cuddling with my guys at night :( I sometimes have Nate in a little bassinet on the bed with me so the dogs aren't allowed to sleep with me yet. Once Nate is in his pack n play at night they can probably join me. Patience and time is all we need. I also don't want them jumping accidently on my stomach (that would hurt)

Here is another picture of them sitting next to me right now... they are sure cute! I better run I hear Nathaniel starting to cry ...